A Soldier at Heart Teaser Sample
#4 of Writing
Teaser for the work-in-progress book A Soldier at Heart. Though still in pre-rough draft format It's been my key project for this year.
A Soldier at Heart
Chapter 3 (Sample)
Voyna
In the morning we all heard the casualty report. There had been three men killed and seven wounded. It didn't sound like much but those numbers hurt. Battalion command must've known that too since they ordered the rest of the company to reinforce the town. They also sent in a T-72 to fortify the AT line in case of another armored charge. The still-smoldering husks of the tanks from last night showed we needed it. A nice surprise, but not that it would have mattered to our platoon considering what our new orders were.
I'd overheard an officer say in a briefing that the offensive was driving further and further West faster than originally anticipated and now a hundred and twenty men of the company were being ordered twelve clicks north to set up a small Command Post. He had said it was mainly to discourage any would-be militia activity in the area. I wasn't exactly top of my class in tactics but I sure as hell knew that wasn't why CPs were set up. Whatever was really going on, I probably didn't want to know.
There was still an hour before we were moving out so I did a little exploring around the shelled out ruins of the town. I managed to find a few beers in some rubble, the last remnants of what was most likely a liquor store before the invasion. I pocketed them and made my way back over to the guys. Igor and Nikolai were sitting on some ammo crates chatting. I sat down myself and handed them each a beer.
"Whatch'ya guys talking about," I asked?
"Same shit different war," Igor responded quickly.
"Yeah, but you've only ever been in this one, hot shot." I uncapped my beer and took a swig. "It's the small luxuries that make life bearable, I suppose," I said aloud.
"Ain't that the truth," Nik said as he popped the cap off of his.
We talked for maybe the good half of an hour and then hit up the mess tent. It was the usual slop. The kind of stuff you didn't taste but rather just crammed down your throat as fast as possible to feel somewhat fed at best. I couldn't really complain since it was at least something other than the street scraps I'd lived off of prior to all of this.
There was a loud whistle. We all knew the drill by now and and stood up to head out of the mess. I had to leave a full plate of food behind too.